When the disabled were segregated (Nazi-like behavior in Britain and America)

This article was published a couple of years ago, but it is important in highlighting prejudice against people with disabilities that was common in the past.

(....)There are numerous stories of German doctors under the Nazi regime using disabled patients as subjects for horrific medical experiments. But an obsession with experimenting on disabled people was not confined to Germany. Hospitals in Britain and America were also keen to experiment on disabled people in the first half of the 20th century(....)Some British psychiatric patients were given malaria to see if it would cure their mental illness. Barbiturates were often administered in the 1930s to deliberately induce a prolonged narcosis(....)By the 1940s, electroconvulsive therapy had become popular among British doctors who believed that passing electrical currents through the brain was a quick and cheap way of producing a shock in their patients. They also regularly practised psychosurgery, the most common form of which involved severing nerve fibres within the brain. Despite the serious side-effects, more than 10,000 such leucotomies were carried out in the 12 years from 1942.

(....)Of course, not all disabled people in Britain and America were consigned to living in institutions before the disability rights movement came into being. Some did live independently in the community or were helped by their families. But living outside an institution did not guarantee respect or dignity. The so-called 'Ugly Laws' in the USA used to place restrictions on the movement of people whose physical disability might offend or frighten able-bodied people. These laws prohibited the appearance of people who were 'diseased, maimed, mutilated or in any way deformed so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object or improper person... in or on the public ways or other public places'.

It is shocking to read that Nazi-like prejudices existed against disabled people in America and Britain.

Can you believe that it was a crime for disabled people to appear in public, out of concern that the public would be disgusted by their condition? Such laws were common in America, and were called "Ugly Laws" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugly_law

This explains why Franklin Roosevelt hid his disability from Americans. He would have been violating the law in many places, if he had appeared in public with a wheel chair.

But we should not be too judgmental in how we view our ancestors. They would be shocked that we celebrate Dr. Gosnell and abortion on demand.

I’m going to be in trouble over this.
Why wasn’t it also mentioned that at one time here, doctors HAD to steal corpses to study actual anatomy? This article speaks of a time when people died from the infection of a small cut. Each year, schoolchildren DIED from “simple childhood diseases”. Not a single patient survived clogged arteries.
I grew up in these years (30’s,40’s etc) and recall that every school year a classmate died, of POLIO, whooping cough, scarlet fever, mumps, and a long category of diseases totally unheard of TODAY.
Less than 100 years ago, hundreds of thousands died from a strain of FLU. Today chain drugstores boast signs that invite you in for a FLU shot.
Back then it was a totally different world. How different? When I was eight and had tonsils removed, the Doctor had to reserve the operating room for a certain time. That time was long enough that he threw in a tonsillectomy for my kid brother for an extra TEN dollars.
That was then....we live in the NOW.

One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Switzerland. No disabled in public. Elevators barely big enough for one person. No way for wheelchairs to get down from curbs or over cobblestones. Tiny bathrooms.

I asked where the disabled were, and was told, they are fully supported by the government but live in institutions their whole lives.

It made me appreciate the laws we have here for those who might be too weak or unable to get down to DC or state capitols and fight for themselves. It made me love this country again for being there for every last one of us. Every once in a while we do something right.

“Well “mainstreaming them” has also added no value.”

To you, or to them?

I believe handicap access to public places has added value, in the opinions of those affected handicapped persons.

I once knew a quad, sports lover, who pushed sports venues to improve access.

I respect him, for his activism.

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